Improved self-winding and balancing curtain-fixture



tuttd tatt @sind @Mitte Letters Patent No. 102,142, dated April 19, 1870@ IMPROVE!) SELF-WINDING- AND BALANCING CURTAIN-FIXTURE.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of the lame.

To all whom Iit may concern Be it known that I, FERDINAND C. D. MCKAY, of Elmira, in the State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Self-Winding Self- Balancing Curtain-lixt-ures; and I do hereby. declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings and letters of reference marked thereon, making apart of this specification, in which- Figure l is a side elevation. f

Figure 2 an end elevation, the plate u being removed.

This invention consists in the combination of awheel placed on the axis of a curtain-roller, with a dliving-wheel iixed on a separate shaft, the drivingwheel being operated by a coiled spring, and both being of suchshape that the driving-wheel acts diiierentially un the roller-wheel, or so that, in rolling up,

during each rotation one or more dead point-s occur, at which the tension of the springis equalized by the weight of the curtain, andthe latter,` consequently, hangs at rest.v

To enable those skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I now proceed to describe its construction and operation.

Similar letters -in the drawings rel'er to like part-s.

A is the upper curtain-roller.

d the wheel on its axis.

` b the driving-wheel.

c the coiled spring.

a a plates nclosing the wheels and springs.

In this instance the' roller-wheel is circular, and

fixed ecceutrically upon its axis, while the drivingwheel is nearly oval, the eiect of which formation is that, when rolling the curtain up, the wheel b drives diiiereutially,and, as often as the minor axis of the oval coincides with the right line, joining the centers ofthe axes of the two wheels, It' the weight of the curtain he approximately adjusted to the tension of the spring, the latter is iusutlicient to elevate the eurtain further-,01, in other words, dead-points occur, and the curtain hangs at rest. A

Ou lifting the lower part ot' vthe curtain with the hand, the weight of the curtain being thus diminished, the spring is able to can-y on the elevation of the vcurtain unt-il it is suffered to hang again, when another stoppage takes place at the next dead-point.

'.lhe device is applicable to awnings as well as curtains.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patentie- A wheel, placed on the axis of a curtain-roller, in combination withand driven by a second wheel fixed on a separate shaft, when thedriving-wheel acts upon the roller-wheel diiierentially, or so that, iu rolling a curtain up, during each rotation of -t-he wheel one or f more dead-points occur, at which the tension of the spring is equalized by the weight of the curtain, and the latter hangs at rest.

FERDINAND C. I). MCKAY.

Witnesses:

GEO. E. BROWN, C. 0. BROWN. 

